Yup, still around, and still checking in occasionally. I'm trying to decide at what point my 'verse deviates significantly from real history. I want tech to be kind of like people expected it to become in the decades before the '80s; in other words, the presence of super-smart people, and the influx of alien tech, means that they have smartphones in the late-80s, a functional moon-base in the early 21st century, and then full colonies there and on Mars probably a couple of decades after that.

So, imagine colonies and ships like in the Aliens films, but with the addition of superhumans. A Batman-type vigilante on a colony or space station in its seedy spaceport/ tech noir area, cyborg super-soldiers protecting settlers on newly-terraformed planets from mutated wildlife or alien invaders, an Enterprise-esque exploration ship with normal humans, genetically enhanced supers, robots, friendly aliens, etc.

EDIT: oh, and at some point, I need to work out when and how I have my big WWIII incident. So Earth goes from becoming the gleaming home of humanity, to the scarred heap. I'm currently leaning towards some sort of Terminator/ Age of Ultron thing, but maybe an alien invasion, or even a crazed super-villain might be responsible. This kickstarts humanity really moving into space and interacting with aliens more.

Powers/ Abilities: Genius engineer/ inventor; "HumanPlus" physical attributes, augmented by gadgets/ tech of his own invention.Origin Of Powers: From birth.

Brief Description: After taking over the role of the Blue Beetle, Ted Kord progresses from being a street-level crime fighter to an international hero, while his inventions- and his reverse-engineering of alien technology- help drive humanity's progress.

Yup, still around, and still checking in occasionally. I'm trying to decide at what point my 'verse deviates significantly from real history. I want tech to be kind of like people expected it to become in the decades before the '80s; in other words, the presence of super-smart people, and the influx of alien tech, means that they have smartphones in the late-80s, a functional moon-base in the early 21st century, and then full colonies there and on Mars probably a couple of decades after that.

So, imagine colonies and ships like in the Aliens films, but with the addition of superhumans. A Batman-type vigilante on a colony or space station in its seedy spaceport/ tech noir area, cyborg super-soldiers protecting settlers on newly-terraformed planets from mutated wildlife or alien invaders, an Enterprise-esque exploration ship with normal humans, genetically enhanced supers, robots, friendly aliens, etc.

EDIT: oh, and at some point, I need to work out when and how I have my big WWIII incident. So Earth goes from becoming the gleaming home of humanity, to the scarred heap. I'm currently leaning towards some sort of Terminator/ Age of Ultron thing, but maybe an alien invasion, or even a crazed super-villain might be responsible. This kickstarts humanity really moving into space and interacting with aliens more.

Wow, great minds think alike. I had an idea for a universe where alien craft did land and/or crash, and while it took years, the tech was reverse engineered and combined with existing earth tech and scientists willing to think outside the box like my Tony Stark and Hank Pym stand-ins, they helped bring the sort of retro future tech seen in sci-fi movies of the 50s to life starting in the 70s to the current day.

My change was looking to be pre WW2 somehow (I really like history, and wish more 'hero' stories were based in that period, not unlike DC's "Bombshells' title.

In my hazy brain, things like the Manhattan project, Mercury, Gemini and Apollo were earlier in the timeline, Apollo continued parallel with the Shuttle program, and scientific progress toward a 'super' soldier hasn't happened yet, but through shared scientific information between the US and her allies, it's going to become a reality while hostile countries are trying to rush their programs into high gear.

In my head, soldiers are just decked out with the frankenstein-ed together alien/human tech.

Maybe something happens prior to the Civil War, possibly there has been an alien presence on earth since the turn of the century, quietly attempting to shape progress in the sciences since the turn of the 20th century (not steampunk, although I do like the hero and tech designs in this genre). Another thing that I kick around in my head is an asian influence somehow, as Japan for ex., has a crazy futuristic lean in everything they put out (my tastes run from the sentai that influenced the creation of Power Rangers, Remo Williams (The Destroyer), Marvel/DC, the Ultraman/Ultra series franchise, and of course giant monsters.)

After I read a few articles on the Wold Newton universe, I'm trying to create a similar timeline/universe to explain my settings/characters without relying on the basic tropes traditional superheroes use, like radiation makes people stronger/faster through radiation rather than sick, and 'traumatic event A' makes John Doe a hero or a villain.

I want to keep some of the original origins for characters, but a lot of my stuff is based on either demi-gods/ nephilim and their descendants, or advanced tech. Androids from Alien, Replicants from Blade Runner, super-soldiers who were genetically engineered, cyborgs, all of that kind of thing.

In the old comics, people were always interacting wih aliens. In mine, planets are off-limits until the inhabitants get to a certain tech level; kind of like the Prime Directive. Incidents may occur where this quarantine is breached, but then humans hit that level, interaction opens up. Of course, the gods/ angels may be a type of alien, and there are still active portals to places like Barsoom in the years before the 20th century.

I was re-reading the thread, and I knew something was nagging at me. I don't know if you're familiar with Remo Williams and the Destroyer series of novels, but his origin parallels Friday's. Remo gets framed for a crime, 'executed', given a new face and identity, and fights crime.

"Sam Makin is a tough Brooklyn, New York City street cop and Vietnam-era Marine Corps veteran. He is unwillingly recruited as an assassin for a secret United States organization, CURE. The recruitment is through a bizarre method: his death is faked and he is given a new face and a new name. Rechristened "Remo Williams" (after the name and location of the manufacturer of the bedpan in Makin's hospital room), his face is surgically altered and he is trained to be a human killing machine by his aged, derisive and impassive Korean martial arts master Chiun."

Power armour develops from early, steam-powered Victorian efforts, to my Iron Man equivalent, The Steel Sentry (British, descended from I.K. Brunel), in the '60s. This leads to the international power-armoured team in the '80s/'90s, the Steel Sentinels, who are government-sponsored, and are considered "safe" as the governments control the suits (this leads to confrontations with superhumans).

As humanity expands into space, it also begins to develop robotic soldiers, first remote-operated drones, then multiple units co-ordinated by a squad-level (or higher) AI, then autonomous units. These are designed to operate in harsh environments in battles against aliens. However, at some point, the machines become self-aware, and begin to campaign for better treatment, leading to a Terminator/ Blade Runner/ etc. uprising, although this most likely won't be on Earth itself, as the robots were designed to be used on colonies.

How crazily eerie is your post! I saw a website full of victorian age/steampunk inspired Star Wars figures recently, with Justice League/D&D as well and they were in my humble opinion incredible, as I'd buy quite a few! So, to stop this story before it gets long, I was thinking for other characters that could translate just as well, and obviously Iron Man and other armored characters, possibly even scaled down Sentinels. The Rockeeter was a definite pick too. I really have to get down and research even more PDSH, as I wasn't sure who the Steel Sentry was (good name though).

I even wondered if someone like Robocop could have existed, with retro engineered alien tech? I think others like Deathlok and Cyborg could be around, and a character similar to Steve Austin (SMDM) could too.

"As humanity expands into space, it also begins to develop robotic soldiers, first remote-operated drones, then multiple units co-ordinated by a squad-level (or higher) AI, then autonomous units. These are designed to operate in harsh environments in battles against aliens. However, at some point, the machines become self-aware, and begin to campaign for better treatment, leading to a Terminator/ Blade Runner/ etc. uprising, although this most likely won't be on Earth itself, as the robots were designed to be used on colonies."

I remember Data had a story about whether or not he was considered a sentient being, and the Doctor from ST:VOY was appalled that all of his make/model were being delegated to dangerous mining work on asteroids, and other dangerous sort of work because they couldn't be powered up and functioning for the time the Doctor had been because of a hardware or software problem...something like that.

Steel Sentry is my creation, although the name has probably been used before. The Steel Sentinels are my team inspired by Battle Fever J.

I think that the debate of what rights artificial life forms have is a really good starting point for science fiction stories, whether it's robots, clones, or genetically modified and lab-grown superhumans.

How far have you gotten in your stories, are you finished, or just brainstorming and writing what comes to mind? I ask, because my brain works like this 'read about things that interest me, and go from there'. I mean, having read Iron Man and other armored heroes for years before I discovered PDSH and the free universe site, my mind's exploded three or four times. I have a lot of notes, and pictures saved of what not to do with my characters (in my head, as I can't draw).

I just found this little bit of info, and it has given me something to work off of, have you heard of it?

I gotta say, the amount of world-building you two seem to be engaged in mind-blowing. As I kick around some world-building for stories I'm working on, I'm trying hard to strike that balance between getting lots of backstory, but not write myself into a corner where my next chapter should have Thor show up, but I'm decided that Norse Gods couldn't exist in my world...

That stuff about the Black Knight is pretty cool, SHF. I've played around a little bit with some of the conspiracy theory kind of stuff with my stories; there's lots of cool stuff there already designed to (more or less) fit into our world.

And BTW, if you check out Dynamite's steampunk story, Legenderry, one issue features "Steve Austin, The Six Thousand Dollar Man." It was such a great concept that I was sorry it didn't show up in more issues. I'm hoping we haven't seen the last of this character, so steampunk bionics can work for sure.

That Black Knight stuff is a gold mine, thank you so much! It fits perfectly with the idea of the Earth being observed by aliens, but off-limits as far as contact is concerned until humanity is suitably developed.

As for actual stories, I seem to have lots of little ideas that I can't seem to flesh out. I think I'm just too distracted by other hobbies, I think I will have to regiment my fun a little better!

That Black Knight stuff is a gold mine, thank you so much! It fits perfectly with the idea of the Earth being observed by aliens, but off-limits as far as contact is concerned until humanity is suitably developed.

As for actual stories, I seem to have lots of little ideas that I can't seem to flesh out. I think I'm just too distracted by other hobbies, I think I will have to regiment my fun a little better!

I have this issue myself. I try to brainstorm so much, and read so much that ideas are started, picked apart, and restarted that I haven't actually done very much actual writing.

I'm more visual I guess and so right now I'm trying to 'see' my characters, but alas I don't draw, so I see bits and pieces of different characters and try to get them to look like they do in my head, it's a real Frankenstein's lab in there.

So I've got three Steve Ditko characters in there (and I will probably include The Question in my universe). I have a happier Batman/ Tony Stark with lighter armour in the Blue Beetle, a Superman/ Green Lantern level hero with a military background (like Captain America), a sexy femme fatale (Black Canary/ Black Widow), a master of the mystical arts (Dr. Fate/ Dr. Strange), and a shape-shifting alien (Martian Manhunter/ Silver Surfer/ Vision). I'm thinking about having a version of The Ray (Superman/ Green Lantern), Phantomah (Wonder Woman/ Scarlet Witch/ Storm), and the Shark (Aquaman/ Namor) in there too.

Then, by the late '80s, the goverments are working on the Steel Sentinels, because they're uneasy with the safety of the Earth being so dependent on the superheroes, who are often non-human. I'm sure that the superhero team would have changed members and probably expanded by this time.

I'm also going to have my late-'30s/ '40s US crimefighting group (a bit looser than a team), my WWII allies teams, (front line, homefront, and spec ops), and then my late-'40s to early-'60s team. Obviously, there will be a few characters who overlap, such as some of the WWII patriotic heroes going until the '60s, and the non-human characters as they live longer.

Normally, I wouldn't think this could work, but the idea sounds like I will be wrong.

On the subject of the Whizz universe, I've got some reading to do, I've not read about DR. Haunt or Mercury Man yet. The Question I've always seen as not my cup of tea, but his appearance in a JLU episode made me curious, and then I find out that a detective from Gotham took over the ID..?

Anyway, nice work on your universe Cpt! Maybe someday soon my own universe will see the light of day.

I've had to put it down for a bit as my health hasn't been so great lately. I need a spinal surgery re-do as four pins (out of 27) holding my spine straight are pulling apart from each other and growing into bone, so the doc needs to open me back up and repair it.

My original idea, while I liked it just seemed to much like Marvel or DC Lite, and I couldn't seem to pin an origin down for why humans in my universe get their powers, or abilities.

Right now, I'm still taking some notes, reading quite a lot and noticing world/universe building is a huge undertaking lol. I'm determined to figure it all out.

I'm actually thinking about replacing Dr. Haunt with my own character - Dr. Unknown. Inspired by some forms at work listing patients' GPs as "Dr. Unknown". I imagine him being a trenchcoat-and-fedora adventurer, who's picked up the mystic arts from travelling around the world, collecting knowledge and relics. A cross between Dr. Strange and Indiana Jones, with a bit of The Shadow.